I've gotten the word from the Mandrake folks that the beta version of 7.1 is ready for download. You can check out the details from the source as well. The current name for it is Hydrogen.

buzzcutbuddha writes "Linux PR has a press release about a new weather forecasting supercomputer running Linux built by High Performance Technologies, Inc. that will be unveiled on Wednesday by NOAA. There is even a phone number to call to tour the High Performance Computer Center. " (let's see if the trolls can be clever for a change ;) Anyhoo 276 nodes, but its costed $15M? Them must be some spendy nodes...

patrixmyth writes "A default password of "Q" in the standard Red Hat 6.2 installation of the Piranha module opens a Web server to intrusion, according to Internet Security Systems. The problem was discovered during a review of Open Source code, and the fix is already available. Another victory for Open Source! The MSNBC article is here. The fix is here, or you could just reset the password yourself for the Piranha module."

jjr writes: "Have you ever wanted to make your own Linux distro? Now at www.linuxfromscratch.org you can teach yourself how Linux works and even make your own Linux distro from the info they have at this site." This looks like a cool resource especially if your school or place of employ (or coven, biker gang, hunter-gatherer tribe, etc.) wants to create a site- or affinity-specific distribution.

su-geek writes " Synergy Microsystems offers QUAD G4 boards as well as QUAD G3 boards which all run SMP linux. Not only that but you can add more than one board to the dual PCI backplane." I didn't find any evidence of running Linux, and they don't appear to be motherboards: they look like addons, but still, they look nifty. I want a couple CPUs dedicated to running OpenGL screensavers in my root window or something.

From a hundred feet up, the action on the floor at FOSE would look like that of any technical tradeshow. Eager vendors try to get their names into the heads of buyers, and the aisles are jammed with swag-toting prospects. The show floor has plenty of the power suits and eager vendors that any other shows do, but also more than a scattering of military insignia, camouflage and Marine crew cuts. And for the first time, just a quick stroll from the 50,000 square foot Microsoft display, this year's FOSE floor also featured Linux vendors and a dedicated Linux pavilion. (Read more.)

mrgrumpy asks: "I run Debian (unstable, woody) kernel 2.2.14 with everything dangerously up to date, and I also run a Solaris7 (Sparc not Intel). I've had NFS working (not with autofs, just mount and share) between the two boxes fine for a few weeks since I set them up. I recently applied a patch cluster from SunSolve to the Sun box, and lo and behold, NFS stopped working. In the patch list there were quite a few NFS fixes with the kernel patch 106541-10. I have the home directories, and a development directory from the Sun box (which serves NIS, NFS, and just about everything) mounted on the Linux box. Most of the time nothing goes wrong. But, when I run the distributed.net client on the Linux box, which needs to read and write files that are mounted across from the Sun box, it locks up and I get messages such as 'Apr 17 14:20:31 boink kernel: nfs: task 1473 can't get a request slot...' in the logs." Can anyone figure out what's going wrong here? (Read more)

Well, as the title says - SuSE 6.4 Evaluation version is now available. Before you start using it seriously, take a look at some of the updates that SuSe already released for this version, such as the Netscape update which you need to install over your installation. Credits for this story goes to Linux Weekly News.

Linux is always a little bigger than you think. Every day, people are working on porting Linux to new platforms to achieve more with what they have. In the case of LinuxPPC and Terra Soft Solutions, they're working with community spirit and the PowerPC architecture to create insanely great solutions with a touch of Tux.

gogo asks: "I'm working for a company which intends to provide an end-to-end business solution to the end users over the Internet. This will include complete sales, purchase, inventory control, CRM, financial accounting, etc., for small to medium business. Being asked to look in to this project, I have decided to have a multiprocessor Linux box for the server, and Oracle for the data base. Since the nature of the application is quite complex with all of the business logic that has to go into it, I'm toying with the idea of having the user interface in Java, as applets. But I'm not very sure how the whole thing will turn up. Is there anyone out there with some similar experience? Am I sounding reasonable or outright crazy? I've heard lots of people talking about using things like EJB, and CORBA objects to put the business logic back to the server side. I'm looking for real world experience, here."

Slowping asks: "A friend of mine posed me a good question that I think would be best asked on Slashdot: Of all the people who have used Linux or any Unix variant, how many have gone back to Microsoft Windows? I'm not talking about newbies that install it and never run it. I'm talking about people who actually learn the new OS, and can use it competently, but for some reason decide to go back to Windows. If you are one of these people, why did you switch back?" I've always thought that Unix can be configured into an OS for everyone (especially FreeBSD and Linux who are coming out of the server closets in big ways). However, we Aren't Quite There Yet. Where do Unix variants need to improve before they can serve as general desktop machines?

palpatine was one of many readers to write with the news that "[m]any of the developers of Stampede Linux have resigned today, putting in doubt the future of the distribution." The link here connects you to a letter signed by 22 people who have declared their separation from Stampede, including former buildmaster Rob Aagaard and former lead Alpha developer J. Daniel Powell. (Read more.)

Matt write: "I ran across this place while searching dmoz. KRF Tech has a piece of software called WinDriver that claims you can write hardware drivers once and compile for Linux, Windows 9x/NT/2000/CE, OS/2, Solaris AND VxWorks. My question: why isn't everyone and their mother using this software? It seems this software would make driver portability a thing of the past. They even have a free 30-day trial." The theory is cool, but how well does this work in practice?

tramm writes: "As someone who works on massively parallel Linux clusters everyday, I get tired of explaining why it is not 'Just another Beowulf'. Linux World has a good article on the four major types of Linux clusters. Our work is in supporting scientific codes that have a high degree of communication. This requires a very different system from the standard Beowulf-class machines that excel at the 'embarrasingly parallel' codes that do not require as much communication. The cost of the network interconnect for a high performance cluster is vastly more than that of a generic 100base-T system."

X asks: "Is there such a thing as Project-Management Software for Linux? I'm working at a company that is more than happy to let me stay in a Linux world if I can provide the appropriate documents. So far, Star Office, Latex, etc. have given me a fair bit of mileage, but now I'm stuck: I need to produce a project plan, and I need to produce PERT and Gant charts, and all that good stuff that everyone else does with Microsoft Project. So what I want to know is: are there ANY alternatives? I'd live with just about anything that gave me away to produce the appropriate graphs and let me perform the appropriate calculations. The best I can come up with to date is to use Gnumeric to do it all, which is just crazy."

syrah_shiraz writes: "This article from G2 News gives very in-depth information on why Fernand Sarrat left Linuxcare and future prospects for Linuxcare and its plans to IPO. Definitely the first interview I've seen with Fernand Sarrat since he officially resigned. Apparently the problems weren't really financial after all--the article alludes to a number of different reasons for his departure. (Even 'sexual indiscretion'?) " Check out our original story on this.

LapTop006 asks:"I am creating a Webcam that can be remotely panned and tilted. The camera is a Logitech Quick Cam USB and I want to be able to run the system on Linux as it would be easiest to control the camera using CGI through Apache. If I am unable to get working USB drivers for the camera, then I will have to run the system on PWS for Win 98. So I need to know whether drivers are available for the camera, or else whether I have to go crawling back to Microsoft." You might want to check out gPhoto, which has support for over 100 digital cameras (although the Logitech hasn't made it into the list yet). Does anyone have anymore information on the Quickcam?

PDG asks: "I've been using Linux for several years now and find myself wanting desperately to get involved with its source code, development, and future. Fine, I've compiled a million kernels and other binaries but don't know the first place to start when trying to understand what the hell half the libraries and header files are doing, let alone dealing with the C code itself (yes, I know C fine). Are there any resources or Web sites out there which may help me in my journey to be a Linux Code Jockey?"

Maktoo writes: "According to MacCentral, the June 2000 issue of MacTech magazine will include a CD containing a 'SuSE for PowerMac' Linux distribution. The full distribution will be available from SuSE at that time as well. It's nice to see SuSE coming to the PPC market!" It'd also be nice to see some less expensive PPC systems.

troc writes: Here's the "info on this year's Linux Beer Hike sponsored by SuSE (and others). It's a European event, where Linux users wander around a nice hilly area, drink beer and exercise their minds of an evening doing Linuxy stuff. " I wanted to go last year, but my flabby ass probably shouldn't be goin' on ye old hacker hike ;)